Startup Idea: Startup Idea for a Material and Tooling Expenditure Tracker
I am the lead engineer at a small manufacturing company. We service the oil and gas industry. We have downsized considerable since the oil down turn and have only a dozen employees remaining. I have been trying to implement a way to track our material and tooling expenditures; however, I am not able to capture all the data since most of our remaining employees have the authority to place verbal orders. I, personally, do not have the authority to require anyone to report their expenses to me so I can compile the costs. What I would be looking for in a software solution is something simple and easy to use by our machinists. Preferably, an app or internally hosted website they can access on their phones. I would like to know when an order was made, what was ordered, and the cost. I tried to keep an eye on invoices, but since that's not my primary job, a lot of small orders slip by. I just want some cooperation with everyone else, since we can negotiate better prices if I can order in larger quantities. But I also don't want to order in excess. No one else seems to place much importance in saving a few dollars here and there, so I'm trying to coax some cooperation out of our machinist with the least amount of perceived burden on them. Thank you.